FEARS IN THE BALKANS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 134, 7 May 1940, Page 7

FEARS IN THE BALKANS.

HOSTILITIES EXPECTED

TROOP CONCENTRATIONS.

LONDON, May 0. The Athens correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says German sources have spread a rumour that an Allied landing in Salonika is imminent. Fishermen said they had seen no signs of it, though they reported aignting British warships on patrol duty in the Aegean Sea. The Istanbul correspondent of the Times says the situation is considered to ho very 6erious, though hopes or maintaining peace have not been abandoned. The German Ambassador to Turkey (Herr von Papen) has been volunteering profuse assurances that Germany and Italy have no aggressive designs in the Balkans, but these have not received more than polite interest in the Turkish Press, which repeats its Government’s statements that aggression in the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans will not leave Turkey indifferent.

The Sofia correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says Bulgarian officials stated that at least 50.000 Turkish soldiers were concentrated on the Turkmli-Greek frontier.

The Budapest correspondent of the Associated Press says Russia is reported to have concentrated from six to eight motorised divisions, representing 100,000 to 150,000 men, on the llutlienian border. German military activity in Slovakia is also reported. The Germans are moving large quantities of munitions and other supplies eastward.

THREAT TO HUNGARY. Slovak ’planes dropped leaflets over the Hungarian minority districts, saying: “llie day of liberation is near. Get ready. Herr Hitler is with us. The glorious Slovak army will deliver you from the Magyar yoke.” The German News Agency mentioned troop movements on both sides of the Bulgarian and Yugoslav frontier. Egypt is calm, says a report from Cairo. General air defence exorcises in Egypt will begin on May 7 and the country will be blacked out for a week. British and Egyptian troops are engaging in desert manoeuvres. Guards have been placed at jiublic buildings. It is reported from Rome that Signor Ansaldo, a director of Count Ciano’s paper Telegrafo, broadcasting to Italian troops, said: “Germanv will certainly and soon repeat Napoleon’s attempt to invade England. Now the Norwegian chapter is complete, a fresh chapter of a vaster war is opening. You will witness more remarkable things: whielr will shake the pillars of tlic world.” . The German Secretary for Tourists in Belgrade has gonp to Berlin after the Government’s refusal to permit 10 000 German tourists to spend the summer in Yugoslavia. A Turkish economic mission headed by M. Berkin (Director of the Ministry of Commerce) has arrived in Bucharest to arrange tl>e exchange of wool for timber and oil.